Joseph Hunter, England number 4 from Middlesex representing the Urban Club was dominant in the Junior Boys events in the Cleveland Junior 4 Star Open Table Tennis Championship which took place at Middlesbrough Sports Village last weekend. 

Hunter won the Junior Boys singles from the top seeded position losing only one game en-route against the talented youngster from Essex, Dimitar Dimitrov. Hunter defeated Shun Hei Chang from Norfolk in the semi-finals and beat his Urban teammate Adam Dennison from Lancashire in the final. 

Junior Boys Singles.  Winner – Joseph Hunter (Left) and Runner Up Adam Dennison (Right)

Hunter and Dennison combined to win the junior boy’s team event beating Ormesby by 3-0 in the final.  Ormesby was represented by Zac Greenhough and Louis Cheung Turner.  In the semi-finals Urban defeated eBATT A which was Janak Shah and Ben Levi by 3 games to 0.  The Ormesby team had a good win against Fusion A with Zac Greenhough and Louis Cheung Turner winning 3-2 against Francesco Bonato and Wajid Wafiq.

The Junior Girls singles was won by England number 1 from Middlesex Tianer Yu.  Yu won her matches in the rounds without losing a game in the semi-finals beating Northern Ireland’s Anjali Singh and Lancashire’s Bethany Ellis in the final.

Anjali Singh had a very good win in the quarter-final against the number 2 seed Eva Eccles from Norfolk.  Bethany Ellis had a close match in the semi-final to beat Yorkshire’s Mia Longman after recovering from 2 games to 0 down to win 11-6 in the decider.

Junior Girls Singles.  Winner – Tianer Yu (Left) and Runner Up Bethany Ellis (Right)

The Junior Girls Team event was won by Dumfries team, Shannon Brown and Maja Wojcicka who beat their Scottish rivals Drumchapel A by 3 games to 0.  Drumchapel were represented by Amelia Smolarek and Megan Mulhern.

Dumfries Team Winners, Shannon Brown (Left) and Maja Wojcicka (Centre)

The Under 17 Boys Singles was won by the number 4 seed Olivier Chu who is one of the leading French Under 17 players.  Chu reached the final by beating number 2 seed from Cleveland, Zac Greenhough in three straight games.  Drumchapel’s Joe Mulhern did well to reach the final beating Ryan Holland of Lincolnshire in the quarters and number 3 seed Wajid Wafiq from Warwickshire in the semi final.  The final was a close match with Chu just gaining an advantage in the 4^th game.

U17 Boys Singles.   Winner – Olivier Chu (Left) and Runner Up Joe Mulhern (Right)

The Under 17 Girls Singles was won by Yorkshire Mia Longman from Scarborough.  Longman won a tough semi-final against top seed Eva Eccles at 11-6 in the decider then beat Lancashire number 2 seed Brooke Morris by 3 games to 1.

U17 Girls Singles.  Winner – Mia Longman (Left) and Runner Up Brooke Morris (Right)

The Cadet Boys singles was won by Kai Lun Chow from the Archway Club in Cambridge beating Aarav Parihar from Woodford Wells A in Essex by 3 games to 0.  Chow excelled in the semi-final beating top seed Dimitar Dimitrov from Essex by 3 games to 1, while Parihar had a 5 setter with Drumchapel’s Joe Mulhern in the semi-final after Mulhern had beaten third seed Sinan Surensoy from Middlesex at 11-3 in the 5^th game in the quarter-final.

Woodford Wells A gained the advantage over the Archway Club in the Under 15 boys team final, winning by 3 games to 1 in the first set.  Chow beat Parihar in straight games to give his team a 1-0 lead but Surensoy won by a narrow victory 14-12 in the 5^th game against Lewis Wu to level the score.

The doubles was won by Woodford Wells in straight games and then Parihar clinched the victory with 3-0 victory over Wu.

Cadet Boys Singles. Winner – Kai Lun Chow (Left) and  Runner Up Aarav Parihar (Right)

Archway also excelled in the Cadet Girls singles with Hannah Saunders winning her second event to build on the Under 13 singles acquired earlier in the day.  In the final Saunders defeated Drumchapel’s Kiishi Adekola in a close 5 game match.  In the semi-final, Adekola, who had beaten second seed Amber Louise Lemmon in her group, beat Surrey’s Lok Yiu Lam, while Saunders recovered from 2 games down to beat her Archway teammate Amber Louise Lemmon 11-8 in the fifth.

Cadet Girls Singles. Adekola Kiishi (Left) and Hannah Saunders (Right)

In the Under 13 boy’s singles, it was another success for Archway with Zihan Lin beating Dimitar Dimitrov by 3 games to 1 in the semi-final, and Lewis Wu, another Archway player, by 3 straight games in the final.

Under 13 boys Winner Zihan Lin (Left) and Runner Up Lewis Wu (Right)

In the Under 13 Girls singles, Saunders won her second title beating Amber Louise Lemmon this time by 3-1 in the final.

U13 Winner – Hannah Saunders

In the Under 11 Boys singles was won by Lusio Wen from Middlesex who beat Archway’s top seed, Jayden Xuan Chau by 3 games to 1.  Wen beat Daniel Pavia from Kent in 5 close games, 11-8 in the decider.

Under 11 boys.  Winner Lusio Wen (Left) and Runner Up Jayden Chen (Right)

The Under 11 girl’s singles was a battle between Archway Club and Ormesby with the winner being Archway’s Cindy Xiao who beat Mila Gao in straight games in the decider.  This was a round robin event in which Xiao was the winner with twins Mindy and Mila Gao finishing second and third.

Under 11 girl’s singles, Cindy Xiao (Left) and Runner Up Mindy Gao (Right)

All pictures are of the presentations made by Alan Ransome OBE, Chairman of Cleveland County Table Tennis Association. Photography by Brenda Stephenson.